Protect your identity

What older adults should know

Bureau of Consumer
Financial Protection
You spend your life building your credit
record. It’s important to always protect
it. Even later in life, having good credit is
important. It can help you get a loan, rent
an apartment, or buy a home.
Protecting your sensitive personal
information from misuse is a way to
safeguard your credit. Unfortunately,
hacking and data breaches expose
the personal information of millions
of Americans. In some cases, hackers
take Social Security numbers and
birth dates. Unlike credit card
numbers, this personal information
cannot easily be changed – it requires
life-long protection against fraud and
Consider a security freeze
identity theft. A security freeze prevents lenders
or creditors from accessing your
There are many ways to protect your credit reports. If you know or suspect
sensitive information from misuse, that your personal information was
including monitoring your bank and exposed in a data breach, you should
credit card accounts, fraud alerts consider placing a freeze on your
and security freezes, and credit and credit reports with all three major
identity monitoring services. How do credit reporting agencies, Equifax,
you know what’s right for you? Experian, and TransUnion. Creditors
usually won’t offer you credit if they
Here are some choices you can use can’t access your credit report. This
to protect your sensitive information makes it harder for identity thieves to
from misuse and help guard open new credit and other financial
your credit. accounts in your name. So a security

2 PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY: WHAT OLDER ADULTS SHOULD KNOW

freeze on your credit report can help
protect against fraud. If an identity
thief stole your identity, a credit freeze
is strongly recommended.
Review your financial
statements regularly
Take time to review credit card, loan,
and bank or credit union statements
regularly. Through mobile and online
banking, you can see your financial
activity in real time. If something
doesn’t look right in your monthly
statements, alert your bank or lender
immediately.
Review your credit reports
Another way to protect yourself is
by reviewing your credit reports
at least once a year. Check your
reports for mistakes. Remember,
lenders make their decisions based
on information in your report. Make
sure you recognize the information
on your credit report and that your
personal and financial details are
accurate and complete. You can
request a free credit report every
12 months from each of the three
nationwide credit reporting agencies
(Equifax, Experian, and Transunion)
at annualcreditreport.com. There
PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY: WHAT OLDER ADULTS SHOULD KNOW
may be some differences in the
information on your three nationwide
credit reports, so check all three and
compare them.
Consider a fraud alert
A fraud alert adds an extra layer of
identity protection to your credit
report. If an identity thief stole your
identity, a fraud alert is strongly
recommended.
Identity and credit
monitoring services
Credit monitoring services scan
your credit reports for you, alerting
you when a change occurs. Identity
monitoring services scan your
credit reports and other personal
information.
Beware of credit repair scams.
Warning signs for credit repair scams
include requests to pay upfront for
services, promises to improve your
credit score, and promises to remove
negative information from your
credit report.
Are you a victim of identity theft?
Report it to IdentityTheft.gov and get
a recovery plan.
3
Identity protection options

Option Benefits Limitations

Consider a Allows you some control Does not affect accounts

security freeze of your credit reports by
restricting access to them
and potentially preventing
new accounts from being
opened in your name.
Are free to place with
Equifax, Experian, and
Transunion.
you have already opened.
May be inconvenient.
If you have a security
freeze with all three credit
agencies and you decide
to apply for a new loan or
other credit, you’ll have to
temporarily lift the freeze
with all three agencies.

Review You could recover some Does not guard against

financial or all of your money if you accounts being opened
statements act quickly. without your knowledge.
regularly
Federal laws protect
you if you have an
unauthorized transaction
from your bank account
and you report it
promptly. Problems can
be addressed before an
unauthorized transaction
reaches your credit report
and damages your credit
score.

Monitoring your accounts

is free.

4 PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY: WHAT OLDER ADULTS SHOULD KNOW

Option Benefits
Review your If you see accounts that
credit reports you don’t recognize, you
can immediately contact
the credit reporting
agency and the company
that provided the
information.
If you catch a mistake, you
can dispute the incorrect
information and notify the
credit reporting agencies
to request that they
correct your report.
Reviewing your credit
report annually is free.
PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY: WHAT OLDER ADULTS SHOULD KNOW
Limitations
To confirm your identity,
credit reporting agencies
will ask you detailed
questions about your
financial history before
you can access your
report. If you are unable
to confirm your identity
online, call the credit
reporting agency.
You’re generally entitled to
only one free report every
12 months from each
of the three nationwide
credit reporting agencies.
You can request all three
at one time, or request
one from each agency
every few months. Once
you’ve received your
free report, you can still
request additional reports.
By law, a credit reporting
company can charge no
more than $12.00 for a
credit report.
5
 Option Benefits
Consider a Requires creditors to
fraud alert take steps to verify your
identity before they can
open a new account or
increase credit on an
existing account.
Identity and Identity and credit
credit monitoring services
monitoring usually alert you to
services changes to your accounts
by email, text message,
or phone.
6 PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY: WHAT OLDER ADULTS SHOULD KNOW
Limitations
An initial fraud alert lasts
a minimum of one year.
You will need to place a
new alert on your account
every year if you want to
extend the timeframe.
An extended fraud alert
lasts seven years, but is
only available to victims
of identity theft. It is not
available to consumers as
a preventive measure.
Most credit monitoring
companies charge a fee
for their service, and
prices may vary. Before
signing up for a service,
make sure you understand
what you’re getting
and how much they’re
charging you.
If you have credit
monitoring, you’ll get
an alert after a change
has occurred on your
report. But it does not
prevent negative or
incorrect information from
appearing on
your report.
Contact one of the three
major credit reporting
companies
EQUIFAX
Security Freeze (800) 685-1111
Place a fraud alert (888) 766-0008
Equifax Consumer Fraud Division
PO Box 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374
EXPERIAN
Security Freeze (888) 397-3742
Place a fraud alert (888) 397-3742
Learn more about identity
protection
Visit AskCFPB at consumerfinance.
gov/ask-cfpb
Submit a complaint
Have an issue with a financial
product or service? We’ll
forward your complaint to the
company and work to get you a
response – generally within
15 days.

Experian  Online
P.O. Box 9554 consumerfinance.gov/complaint
Allen, TX 75013
 By phone (180+ languages)
TRANSUNION M-F, 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. ET
Security Freeze (800) 680-7289 (855) 411-2372
Place a fraud alert (888) 909-8872 (855) 729-2372 TTY/TDD

TransUnion Fraud Victim Assistance

 By mail
Department
P.O. Box 2900
P.O. Box 2000
Clinton, IA 52733-2900
Chester, PA 19016
 By fax
(855) 237-2392

PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY: WHAT OLDER ADULTS SHOULD KNOW 7

October 2018